A vacuum insulated panel is a form of thermal insulation made up of a nearly gas-tight enclosure surrounding a rigid core, from which the air has been evacuated. Vacuum insulation panels have a number of different applications, including for use inside refrigerator cabinets.
In refrigerator applications, separate vacuum insulation panels can be utilized in combination with conventional foam or fiberglass insulation within the walls of the refrigerator. Such vacuum insulation panels are used to decrease the heat leakage into a refrigerator and therefore decrease the energy required to operate the refrigerator. As an example, the vacuum insulation panels can be attached to the metal refrigerator case prior to inserting insulating material.
If a vacuum insulation panel loses its vacuum seal or otherwise becomes ruptured or damaged, the insulative functionality of the panel will decrease substantially. Therefore, systems and methods for testing and monitoring proper functioning of vacuum insulation panels—both prior to installation and after installation—are desirable.
However, the challenges of validating proper functioning of vacuum insulation panels within a factory operation or within a post-manufacturing environment have limited the full utilization of vacuum insulation technology. For example, internal sensors within the vacuum panel and pre-installation testers have been previously desired to sort ruptured or improperly manufactured panels. However, these techniques are limited in their benefits for multiple reasons, including the feasibility of detecting failures due to temperature sensitivity or the difficulty of measuring assembled vacuum insulation panels after all factor processes have occurred.
As another example, thermal imaging cameras have been used which utilize the exothermic results produced from chemical insulation foam reactions to look for hot spots that would occur if the vacuum insulation panels failed. However, these are limited in reliability with alpha and beta error due to the time-dependent function of needing the ability to visually observe the panel at the proper moment in time.
Therefore, improved systems and methods for testing and/or monitoring proper functioning of vacuum insulation panels installed within or intended for installation within a refrigerator are desirable.